From Taiwan to Tibet, U.S. Perceptions of China
Dangeously out of Touch
We know about China: It’s a military superpower. Human rights conditions are
deteriorating. China poses a military treat to Taiwan. And Tibet is an ‘occupied
country.’
Wrong on all counts, say two new Foreign Policy In Focus reports on China: U.S.-China-Taiwan
Military Relations by World Policy Institute Senior Fellow James H. Nolt, and Reassessing
Tibet Policy by SUNY/Empire State College history professor A. Tom Grunfeld. According
to both scholars, U.S. public discussions of China are dominated by fear, not fact.
For instance, China’s weapons systems are woefully out of date, and that Chinese
armed actions and arms sales have declined significantly since the 1980s. China has more
countries, frequently hostile countries, on its borders than any other nation, and as a
result considers itself vulnerable. "China’s armed forces are the world’s
largest, but smaller per capita than those of many countries, including the United
States," writes Nolt. "China can defend its territory, but its capacity for
external aggression is limited." As a result, "Beijing’s threats against
Taiwan are hollow, because China lacks the military capability to inflict damage on Taiwan
without suffering immense damage to its own economy and coastal regions."
At the same time, recent American and international efforts to defend Tibetan culture
and religion have backfired. Grunfeld argues that Tibet activists and their supporters in
Congress ignore the fact that that Tibet’s history has been tied to China’s
since the seventh century, and that the U.S. government and the Dalai Lama have
"never recognized Tibetan independence."
"During the 1980s," writes Grunfeld, "Chinese Communist Party moderates
paved the way for increased use of the Tibetan language, the reconstruction of religious
buildings, and the encouragement of Tibetan culture." Although in recent years, there
has been "increased repression in Tibet" and "rising animosity toward
Chinese rule," U.S. pronouncements have served to strengthen the hand of party
hard-liners who want to suppress Tibetan culture. Grunfeld argues that in the country as a
whole, there have been "significant gains in personal freedoms for the vast majority
of China’s citizens."
Congressional denunciations of China as an oppressor and a major military threat simply
re-open old wounds. "Since the Opium War, China has faced countless insults,
invasions, and depredations from foreigners, unlike anything in the American
experience." Moreover, they fail to acknowledge the improvements China has made.
"In the two decades since relations were normalized, China has gradually liberated
its economy... (and) demilitarized to a much greater extent than the United States,"
says Nolt. He concludes, "The U.S. should relate to China with confidence, not with
fear."
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